There’s something mystical about San Francisco band Tycho. When they play their instruments, something miraculous happens- creating sounds that can lift the spirit to such great heights.
Tycho sounds like a combination of Explosions in the Sky and The xx. Purely through their instruments, no vocals, they can tell stories, emote feelings, and fill the space with melody in such an uplifting way. Each song tells a new emotion. Each chord change follows along in the story they’re unfolding.
Yet there is a mysterious quality to this kind of music. There are no lyrics, and thus, you must make up your own story. It’s kind of like reading on of those Choose Your Own Adventure books, except with infinite possibilities.
“Awake” is a song that contains this simple yet poignant guitar riff that fits like a glove into the rhythm and sounds like magic. It’s mood music at the highest caliber. It doesn’t match your mood, it creates a new one.
“A Walk” sounds like a dream. It begins with blossoming synths and atmospheric sounds swirling, and then evolves into a break-beat rhythmic seemingly out of thin air.
There are moments when you feel suspended in this huge ocean of sound swelling around you. The bass rattles in your legs and you can feel it in your hair. If you hold up your hands, you feel sonic vibrations. It feels as if you’re in a different world.
Before the show, I spoke to an audience member who claimed this was his first concert ever. Joplin, Mississippi
resident Keegan Pittman has lived his 21 years of life without seeing a concert before Sunday night. As somebody who attends concerts on a fairly regular basis, and has been to more than I can count, my first question was “why did you pick Tycho in Kansas City on a Sunday as your first concert ever?”
Pittman responded, “It’s the music, man.”
The music of Tycho brought this man hours from home for his first concert ever.
If that isn’t miraculous, I don’t know what is.